Acushnet Town Meeting votes overwhelmingly for library project

Monday

Feb 25, 2013 at 10:44 PMFeb 25, 2013 at 10:47 PM

By PAUL GATELYCONTRIBUTING WRITER

ACUSHNET — Special Town Meeting voters Monday night overwhelmingly approved a $6,382,000 capital-construction proposal to underwrite a new library addition at the Marie S. Howard Community Center along Middle Road. The vote was 190-23.

The capital debt-exclusion request to override Proposition 2½ now heads to the April 1 town election ballot where it must also pass muster with voters for borrowing to proceed.The proposal enjoys a $3.2 million grant approved by Massachusetts Library Commissioners and $260,000 in private donations to Russell Memorial Library at Main Street, an 83-year-old structure with 21 stone steps to the entrance.

The town share of the project would total $2.9 million. Given a competitive bidding climate and favorable borrowing rates in the bond market, the new library could open in the summer or fall of 2015. A 20-year bond would cost the owners of an average $250,000 home $30 to $40 more each year in taxes, officials said.

The funding request represents the third effort over a decade to build a new facility. Library supporters said they doubt the state will offer Acushnet a fourth construction grant.

“This is the time to accept these state funds,” library trustees Chairman Kristen Leotti told voters.

The group, comprised of many library patrons in a packed Ford Middle School cafeteria, agreed. Their vote marks a second capital-borrowing proposal, following their January decision to underwrite new police station construction at Middle Road.

Moderator Robert Francis allowed wide latitude in discussion about new library need as well as efforts to keep the Howard community building solvent — the entire structure essentially becoming a multi-use facility should voters approve library funding in April.

Voters also approved a request to direct solar-farming permit revenue to a special fund established to help defray the costs of the police station and new library.

Voters also exempted from the Community Preservation Act surtax property owned by townspeople qualifying at the low-income threshold as well as the first $100,000 of taxable commercial and industrial parcels.

Selectmen said the goal with those requests is to help with construction costs and defray some of the needed capital borrowing.

Voters heard how Russell Memorial Library is cramped and crowded and not serving 21st-century library needs with its insufficient space and crowded resources. There was no discussion about what would happen to the building if the library moves to Middle Road or what the new library addition at the Howard center would ultimately be named.